Coast Range fog settles on the Elliott State Forest near Coos Bay.(Jes Burns / OPB/EarthFix )

Oregon’s leaders decided for the first time to dedicate an entire state forest to storing harmful greenhouse gases to combat climate change while generating revenue from selling carbon credits.

Ali Ryan Hanson (she/her), Director of Communications, Oregon Department of State Lands joins the Exchange to discuss.

The fate of the Elliott State Forest near Coos Bay has been the subject of intense negotiation for years, but on Tuesday morning the three members of the State Land Board – Gov. Tina Kotek, Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade and state Treasurer Tobias Read – voted unanimously to support a proposed forest management plan for the Elliott’s future that prioritizes research, protecting animal habitat, increasing forest carbon storage to combat climate change and produce income from the sale of carbon credits.

Logging would still be allowed in parts of the forest, but would be significantly reduced from previous decades. The decision makes Oregon the second state nationwide to enroll an entire state forest in a plan focused on storing harmful emissions in exchange for carbon credits, after Michigan.